Germany to rethink migration policy in January

A month ago, member of the European Parliament from France, Bernard Mono, made serious accusations against German Chancellor Angela Merkel: "13 years of your rule led the European Union to economic, social and cultural collapse. What will really go down in history as a result of your actions is your one-sided decision to open Germany's borders for migrants, helpfully supported by Mr. Juncker." His words were partly supported by the “March against Marrakesh” that took place in Brussels recently, which was attended by thousands of opponents of the UN migration pact, signed on December 10.

Commenting on recent events in Europe, Nikolai Topornin, associate professor at the Department of European Law of the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations, expressed opinion that Angela Merkel’s strategic miscalculation on migration issue led to political crisis in Europe.

“When migrats rushed into Europe, it wasn't a fault of the EU’s migration policy, it was a result of unsuccessful policy of one country and specifically one politician - Chancellor Angela Merkel. I didn't hear other leaders of that period (French President Hollande or UK's Cameron) urge to open borders and invite all migrants and all refugees who can get to Europe, the European Union. Only Merkel did that. That's when huge strategic mistake was made. Germans are organized people, and Germany has both financial resources and structural capabilities to receive very large number of migrants and even refugees. But in this case, migration flow just couldn't be controlled. Older people, women with many young children began to arrive in the EU. And it's always hard to integrate such people into the economy."

According to Topornin, two countries on the external contour of the EU - Italy and Greece - had to shoulder the biggest burden of migration crisis: "When refugees rushed to all possible places of residence, camps, military barracks, sports bases, they began to say: 'We're not going to Italy or Greece, we want to see Merkel, who invited us and who will provide us with everything we need.' Authorities of Italy and Greece decided to help them. They couldn't take all migrants and began to transport them further. As a result, migrants began to reach Germany through other European countries (including through Hungary and Austria)."

Topornin believes that Merkel’s strategic miscalculation led to global crisis in the center of Europe, which is also accompanied by political crisis: “Growth in popularity of right-wing populism began in France, in Germany. The Alternative for Germany party, which no one really knew, has became extremely popular thanks to its migration rhetoric. Now it's the second most popular party in some regions. Merkel was forced to resign as head of the CDU. A lot of discussions on migration problem in the CDU/CSU are scheduled for mid-January. I believe that ruling party will rethink fundamentals of migration policy of Germany - there will no longer be any open doors, no open borders. But what about those migrants that have already reached territory of Germany? Many of them used fake documents, many lied about their ancestry, saying that they are from Syria, but they're actually from Iraq, from other countries. Several thousand people are already waiting for deportation in Germany. Obviously, they simply have to rethink migration policy."